Setting: Afternoon. The campus is lively. A few students sit under trees, others hustle to classes. There's music playing softly from someone's speaker. And in the middle of it all — Aarif enters.
Aarif wasn't like other guys.
He wasn't trying to be cool.
He wasn't trying to be mysterious.
He was just… himself. And somehow, that made him ten times harder to forget.
Wearing a slightly wrinkled shirt — sleeves rolled up carelessly, camera strap hanging off his shoulder, one shoelace always untied — he walked like the world wasn't watching. Like he didn't care if it was.
Because honestly? He didn't.
He cracked jokes under his breath, talked to squirrels, and gave nicknames to pigeons on the roof. And when someone yelled "Hey, hottie!" across the hall, he just replied with:
> "Tell your dog I say hi."
Everyone laughed.
That was Aarif.
Tall, eyes full of quiet mischief, and a boy who could charm the sky if he looked up long enough.
But for all the attention he got… he didn't chase any of it.
Not the glances. Not the giggles. Not even the girls who dropped their books near him "by accident."
> "You're cute."
"I'm allergic to compliments," he replied with a smile and walked away.
He wasn't rude.
He just… wasn't interested.
Love, flirting, relationships — none of it fit his pace. His heart wandered elsewhere. Always lost in thoughts, in clouds, in light that no one else seemed to see.
---
> But deep down, something felt off lately.
Like the universe was waiting for something. Or someone.
Aarif didn't know it yet.
But this campus… this new city… was about to shift his story entirely.
And though he didn't believe in soulmates,
The wind had started whispering a name.
He just hadn't heard it yet.
> To be continued...